Itâ??s become a frequent, depressing talking point by now: Take a man and a woman, equally qualified, and the woman will make, on average, 77 cents on the dollar as compared to the man.Though often repeated by pundits, journalists, and politicians â?? including the president â?? the 77 cents narrative isnâ??t quite true. Things are more complicated than that; it appears more likely, as a recent episode of Freakonomics argued, that women are often doing different work: work that pays less.
The reasons for this are varied and complicated. In some cases, women really are paid less to do the same work. In other cases, they end up in lower-paying jobs as a result of institutional and cultural forces that nudge them towards careers with greater flexibility or more time at home.
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